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City  Document.  —  No.  128.      -  •  y 

CITY  OF  BOSTON. 


REPORT  OF 

COMMITTEE  ON  LAYING  OUT  AND  WIDENING  STREETS, 

ON  THE 

PROPOSED  MARGINAL  STREET, 

FROM  BROAD  STREET  AT  ROWE'S  WHARF  TO  COMMERCIAL 
STREET  AT  EASTERN  AVENUE. 


1868. 


CITY     OF  BOSTON. 


In  Board  of  Aldermen,  Nov.  23,  1868. 

The  Committee  on  Laying  out  and  Widening  Streets,  to 
whom  was  referred  the  petitions  of  Charles  G.  Nazro  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  others,  T.  Albert  Taylor  and  eighty-eight 
others,  Potter  &  Demmon  and  sixty-six  others,  for' a  new  street 
across  the  wharves  and  docks,  from  a  point  on  Broad  Street 
near  Fort  Hill  to  Commercial  Street  near  the  Eastern  Avenue, 
having  carefully  considered  the  subject,  beg  leave  to  submit  the 
following 

REPORT: 

The  Committee  have  caused  a  survey  of  the  proposed  street, 
one  hundred  feet  in  width,  to  tie  made  by  the  City  Surveyor,  a 
plan  of  which,  together  with  the  adjacent  streets  and  wharves,  is 
herewith  presented. 

By  reference  to  the  plan,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  westerly  line 
of  the  new  street  begins  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Belcher's 
Lane  on  Broad  Street,  and  running  in  a  direct  line  in  a  north- 
erly direction  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Fleet  Street  on  Com- 
mercial Street,  a  distance  of  about  2,700  feet,  or  little  more 
than  half  a  mile.  It  crosses  Foster's,  Rowe's,  India,  Central, 
Long  and  T  wharves,  a  common  highway,  and  Mercantile,  Com- 
mercial, Lewis  and  Eastern  Avenue  wharves. 

TAKINGS. 

It  takes  from  Foster's  Wharf  about       .       .       1,500  feet 
of  land,  and  destroys  one  brick  building. 


4 


City  Document.  —  No.  128. 


From  Rowe's  Wharf  about       ....      17,900  feet 

of  wharf  and  dock,  and  destroys  five  brick 

stores  and  a  wooden  building. 
From  India  Wharf  about   32,000  feet 

and  destroys  eight  brick  stores  and  a  wooden 

building. 

From  dock,  between  India  and  Central  wharves, 

about   20,500  feet 

owned  by  India  Wharf,  subject  to  use  as  a 
dock  by  Central  Wharf. 

From  Central  Wharf  about       ....      24,100  feet 
of  wharf  and  dock,  destroying  five  stores,  in- 
cluding the  one  over  the  arch. 

From  Long  Wharf  about   24,200  feet 

of  wharf  and  dock,  destroying  five  stores,  and 
including  the  passage  way  to  T  Wharf.  These 
stores,  together  with  the  land  under  them, 
are  owned  by  individuals.  The  whole  land 
taken  on  Long  Wharf  is,  however,  as  stated. 

From  T  Wharf  about   17,000  feet 

of  wharf  and  dock,  destroying  two  granite 
stores,  and  wooden  buildings. 

From  common  highway,  between  T  and  Mer- 
cantile wharves,  about        ....       8,000  feet 
of  open   way,  it  being  the  approach  to  the 
docks  at  City  Wharf. 

From  Mercantile  Wharf  about  ....      37,000  feet 
of  Pile  Wharf  and  dock. 

From  Commercial  Wharf  about       .       .       .     36,000  feet 
of  wharf  and  dock,  destroying  six  granite 
stores. 

From  Lewis  Wharf  about       ....     28,860  feet 
of  wharf  and  dock,  destroying  five  granite 
stores,  and  wooden  buildings. 


Proposed  Marginal  Street. 


5 


From  dock,  beween  Lewis  Wharf  and  Eastern 

Avenue,  about   15,000  feet 

of  dock. 

From  owners  on  Eastern  Avenue,  about  .       .       3,300  feet 
of  land,  destroying  three  granite  stores  and 
an  elevator. 

Making  a  total  of  about       ....      274,360  feet 
of  wharf  and  dock  taken  for  the  street. 


DAMAGES. 

The  Committee  estimate  that  the  total  damage  for  wharves, 
docks  and  buildings  taken,  will  be  eight  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  This  estimate  does  not  include  any  damage 
to  the  docks  westwardly  of  the  new  street,  which  will  have  to 
be  discontinued  for  dock  purposes  and  converted  into  solid 
land. 

The  length  of  the  retaiuing  wall  upon  the  easterly  side  of 
the  street,  after  deducting  the  distance  already  built  by  the 
solid  wharves  now  crossing  the  street,  is  about  1,615  feet.  It 
is  estimated  that  this  wall  can  be  built  of  a  proper  strength 
if  a  pile  wharf  or  platform  is  placed  upon  the  outside  of  it,  for 
fifty-five  dollars  per  running  foot,  making  the  total  cost  of  the  wall 
eighty-eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars. 

The  number  of  squares  of  earth,  of  two  hundred  and  six- 
teen cubic  feet  each,  required  to  fill  the  street  to  within  two  feet 
of  grade,  is  about  11,682.  This  earth  gan  be  removed  from 
Fort  Hill  for  six  dollars  per  square,  —  perhaps  by  railway  .and 
an  excavator  at  a  much  less  price.  Under  any  circumstances, 
we  believe  it  will  not  cost  any  more  than  six  dollars  per  square 
for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  owners  of  Fort  Hill  will  be 
willing  to  bear  a  part  of  the  'expense  of  removing  the  surplus 
earth  from  their  estates,  in  order  sooner  to  bring  them  into 
store  property. 

l* 


6 


City  Document.  —  No.  128. 


The  petition  of  William  G.  Lincoln  and  fifty  others,  proprie- 
tors of  real  estate  on  Fort  Hill,  that  this  street  may  be  laid  out 
in  order  to  "  provide  a  place  to  which  the  city  and  your  peti- 
tioners can  remove  the  earth  now  constituting  said  hill,"  has  been 
considered  by  your  Committee.  The  removal  of  this  eleva- 
tion, to  make  way  for  warehouses  and  other  improvements,  was 
commenced  in  1866,  but  owing  to  the  want  of  a  convenient  place 
of  deposit,  it  remains  a  disgrace  to  the  city  and  of  little  or  no 
value  to  its  owners.  Being  composed  of  clay,  it  could  not  be 
used  for  paving  or  for  filling  the  Church  Street  territory.  And 
as  by  law  the  South  Boston  flats  can  only  be  filled  by  material 
excavated  from  the  channel,  it  cannot  be  applied  to  that  end. 
The  only  place  where  it  can  be  deposited,  except  at  an  immense 
cost,  is  the  one  embraced  in  this  proposed  improvement,  and 
this  is  in  its  immediate  neighborhood. 

At  six  dollars  the  square,  the  filling  will  amount  to  about 
seventy  thousand  dollars. 

The  estimate  for  the  two  feet  of  gravel-top  to  the  roadway, 
and  the  paving  of  the  street  in  the  best  manner,  is  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

Making  the  total  expense,  as  per  estimate,  as  follows : 

For  land  damages.   $850,000 

Retaining  wall   88,825 

Grading   70,000 

Gravel  and  paving      ......  125,000 

$1,133,825 

Add  for  contingencies   66,175 

Total  cost  $1,200,000 

Having  thus  presented  the  estimated  cost  of  the  proposed 
street,  your  Committee  beg  leave  to  present  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  Board,  the  position  in  which  they  find  themselves  in 
regard  to  this  enterprise. 


Proposed  Marginal  Street. 


7 


SHALL  THE  SIREET  BE  BUILT? 

Before  any  investigations  were  had  relative  to  this  improve- 
ment, they  had  supposed  that  the  parties  most  interested  would 
be  the  owners  of  the  wharves  and  docks  over  which  this  street 
would  pass.  In  this  they  have  been  almost  totally  mistaken.  A 
glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  almost  all  of  the  land  to  be  taken 
now  belongs  to  the  proprietors  of  eight  wharves.  These  pro- 
prietors instead  of  aiding  the  Committee  to  a  proper  solution 
of  the  question,  have,  with  the  exceptions  of  Mercantile  Wharf 
and  India  Wharf,  opposed  at  all  hearings  both  before  the 
Board  and  the  Committee,  with  the  best  legal  talent  of  the 
city,  the  laying  out  of  this  street.  We  have  no  right  to  doubt 
that  they  believe  that,  so  far  as  they  are  affected  by  this 
street,  it  will  be  a  serious  pecuniary  injury  to  their  estates, 
beyond  any  sum  they  would  be  likely  to  receive  for  damages. 
If  their  view  is  correct,  nothing  would  be  returned  to  the  city 
from  the  assessment  of  betterments,  for  no  property  would  be 
improved  to  assess. 

The  Committee  do  not  agree  with  the  owners,  that  no  benefit 
would  accrue  to  their  property  by  opening  this  street;  on  the 
contrary,  all  other  parties  who  have  presented  their  views  to 
the  Committee,  or  with  whom  they  have  consulted,  coincide  with 
them  in  the  opinion,  that  all  the  damages  should  be  assessed 
upon  the  land  already  made,  and  to  be  made  below  India  and 
Commercial  streets,  between  the  ends  of  the  new  street, 
and  including  such  other  land  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  as 
the  result  shall  show  to  have  been  benefited. 

Are  the  views  of  the  remonstrants  correct  ?  Is  it  possible 
that  the  development  of  some  seven  acres  of  land  in  the 
centre  of  the  city,  upon  deep  water,  will  not  prove  a  good 
investment  ?  Has  our  city  reached  its  greatest  magnitude  in 
commerce  and  trade,  and  has  its  prosperity  already  begun  to 
wane  ?    We  cannot  believe  it. 


City  Document.  —  No.  128. 


Possessing  as  it  does,  one  of  the  best  harbors  on  the  Atlantic 
coast,  with  railroad  facilities  unsurpassed  by  any  other  city,  is  it 
possible  that  with  the  increase  of  the  population  and  wealth  of 
our  country,  our  city  will  not  also  increase  in  a  corresponding 
ratio;  and  when,  within  a  few  years,  our  nation  shall  contain 
a  population  of  00,000,000,  Boston  will  not  have  doubled  her 
present  population  and  still  be,  as  she  now  is,  second  only  to  New 
York  in  the  magnitude  of  her  commercial  transactions  ;*  absorb- 
ing for  business  purposes  not  only  the  area  uow  under  considera- 
tion, but  also  Fort  Hill,  and  crossing  Fort  Point  channel  devel- 
oping the  South  Boston  flats  and  covering  them  with  railroad 
depots  and  manufacturing  establishments  ? 

BETTERMENTS. 

The  area  of  land  made  from  the  docks  and  other  compara- 
tively unimproved  property,  is  346,526  square  feet. 

Of  this  quantity,  lot  one,  containing  101,851  square  feet,  sit- 
uated between  India  and  Long  wharves,  will  not  require  any 
new  streets  to  properly  develop  it  for  building  purposes. 

Lot  two,  containing  101,320  square  feet,  situated  between 
Long  Wharf  and  dock  line  of  Mercantile  Wharf,  will  require 
for  streets  and  passage-way,  33,000  square  feet. 

Lot  three,  containing  143,800  square  feet,  belonging  mostly 
to  Mercantile  Wharf  Corporation,  will  require  23,740  square 
feet  for  streets,  according  to  a  plan  made  by  Edmund  Quincy, 
Jr. 

These  lots  are  valued,  for  assessment  of  taxes,  as  follows : 

*  By  the  following  statement,  from  the  report  of  the  Revenue  Bureau,  it 
will  be  seen  that  Boston  is  next  to  New  York  in  the  amount  it  sells  : 

"  The  total  sales  for  New  York  last  year  were  §3,313,618,058 ;  for  Bos- 
ton, $928,173,020;  Philadelphia,  $602,097,090;  New  Orleans,  $526,795,400; 
Chicago,  $312,182,708;  Baltimore,  $321,966,303;  Cincinnati,  $213,253,051; 
St.  Louis,  $213,031,368;  San  Francisco,  $151,367,720;  Louisville,  $116,216,- 
642;  and  Milwaukee,  $110,675,054.  None  of  the  remaining  cities  reach 
$] 00,000,000  of  sales." 


Proposed  Marginal  Street. 


9 


Lot  one  at  seventy-five  cents  per  foot;  it  is  estimated  that 
it  can  be  filled  to  proper  height  for  stores  for  fifty-five  cents 
per  superficial  foot.  This  sum,  added  to  the  value  of  the  land, 
together  with  interest  and  taxes  for  two  years,  makes  the  value 
to  be  per  foot  one  dollar  and  fifty-seven  cents.  All  land  on  any 
street  in  this  vicinity,  is  valued  at  from  five  to  ten  dollars  per 
foot. 

Lot  two  is  valued  at  seventy-five  cents  per  foot ;  add  to  value 
the  amount  given  for  streets,  and  add  to  that  the  filling  and 
interest  and  taxes,  it  makes  the  value  to  be  two  dollars  per 
foot.  All  land  in  vicinity  is  assessed  from  eight  to  eighteen 
dollars  per  foot. 

Lot  three  is  valued  at  one  dollar  per  foot;  add  to  value  the 
amount  given  for  streets,  and  add  to  that  the  filling  and  interest 
and  taxes,  it  makes  the  land  cost  two  dollars  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  foot.  All  land  in  vicinity  is  assessed  from  eight  to 
fifteen  dollars  per  foot. 

The  increased  value  of  the  property  on  the  easterly  side  of 
the  street,  and  in  other  localities  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  can- 
not be  less  than  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Making  the  total  betterments  to  be  about  two  million  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

CONCLUSION. 

Your  Committee  would  say  that,  if  the  estimates  herewith 
presented  are  correct,  the  whole  expense  of  laying  out  and 
building  this  street  can  be  borne  by  the  property  developed 
thereby,  and  add  one  million  of  dollars  besides  to  the  value  of 
these  estates.  We  believe,  however,  that  the  street  will  be  of 
great  permanent  advantage  to  our  city  in  its  corporate  capacity, 
and  that  its  full  share  of  the  expense  should  be  cheerfully 
borne.  Some  complaint  has  been  made  that  this  street  has  been 
projected  by  the  steam  railroads  for  the  purpose  of  using  it  for 
the  storage  of  cars,  and  to  the  injury  of  the  abutters.    We  do 


10 


City  Document. — No.  128. 


not  well  see  how  this  can  be  the  case.  The  idea  of  connecting 
the  railroad  with  it  in  any  way  is,  that  large  quantities  of  freight 
will  find  here  its  best  place  for  re-shipment ;  and  one  plan  con- 
templates the  owning,  by  railroads,  of  nearly  all  the  property 
abutting  upon  the  street,  and  to  be  used:  for  freight  depot,  and 
other  railroad  purposes.  We  are  not  sure  that  under  some 
contingencies,  the  railroad  corporations  should  not  be  assessed 
for  betterments  if  it  facilitates  their  business  and  lessens  their 
expenses,  and  our  present  betterment  law  gives  us  the  right  to 
assess  all  real  estate  benefited. 

We  cannot,  however,  recomradnd  the  city  to  undertake  this 
enterprise  without  the  full  co-operation  of  the  abutters,  both  in 
regard  to  damages  and  betterments. 

The  experience  of  the  Committee  the  present  year,  leads  them 
to  believe  it  to  be  bad  policy  to  apply  the  betterment  law  to  the 
opening  of  streets  where  the  greater  part  of  the  benefit  received, 
as  well  as  the  expenses  to  be  incurred,  is  upon  estates  taken  to 
make  the  improvement,  unless  the  owners  appear  as  petitioners 
for  the  project;  but  leave  it  to  the  Board  to  decide  what  further 
action,  if  any,  shall  be  taken. 

NEWTON  TALBOT,  n 
JOSEPH  F.  PAUL,       (  Committee. 
EDWARD  A.  WHITE,  J 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  033  43015  8 
MUtnPLE  VOLUMES  SOUND  toofthpp 


« 


ODBtlUBRARY  BOJTOH  COLLEGE 


